NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



85 



brother farmers when I say that there is not yet 

 that spirit of inquiry among them, which among 

 manufacturers leads them to endeavor to econo 

 rnize the production of their goods. We havelum 

 bering, unwieldly, inconvenient vehicles, — carts 

 flung together by bunglers, instead of being made 

 on scientific principles. Who has not seen scores 

 of cart bodies made narrow and long, hard to fill 

 and harder to "tip up?" What a saving if Scotch 

 cart bodies could be substituted ; short, light 

 bodies, and sides flaring to the very wheels. We 

 still have the old wooden axletrees everywhere, 

 which are kept free from dirt with great difficulty, 

 need greasing often, and go hard then. 



How often the remark is made, " If I had only 

 known of this before." Well, there are a good 

 many improvements yet to bo introduced. The ig- 

 norant natives of St. Thomas are anxious for 

 nothing better. But with us it is not a stand-still 

 age. True, we are to " hold on to that which is 

 good," but, also, stretch our arms for more of the 

 same article. In no direction can we grasp more 

 aid than in gathering about us all good and neces- 

 sary tools. Parsimony here is ruin ; a liberal and 

 judicious expenditure a precursor of success. — 

 Commonwealth. 



LABOR NOT A CURSE. 



Many there are in this little world in which we 

 live, who fancy to themselves that the unfortunate 

 act of old father Adam has been the cause of all 

 necessary labor, and that, had he walked upright- 

 ly, all earth's inhabitants might have lived in per- 

 petual luxury. Their notion covets the happiness 

 of the sluggard, as the state of earthly bliss which 

 is most desirable . 



In what we had to say last week upon the ori- 

 gin and dignity of Agriculture, the fact was made 

 plain that man was created for employment, not 

 for a happy state of idleness. 



We have a few more thoughts to express, which 

 have some relation to the same subject ; and the 

 present may be as proper a time as any for their 

 expression. We are aware that many good men 

 have taught the people to believe that God cursed 

 man into agriculture because he had sinned. But 

 we do not so understand the good book. In our 

 judgment it teaches very plainly that God, from 

 the beginning, designed the earth to be cultivated ; 

 and appointed man as the agent of his design, for 

 its accomplishment. 



But our attention is called to the following quo- 

 tation from the scripture : " And unto Adam he 

 said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice 

 of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I 

 commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it ; 

 cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt 

 thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns also 

 and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou 

 shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of 

 thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto 

 the ground." In all this there is not an intima- 

 tion that the ground was to be cursed with bar- 

 renness, that it should not produce without cul- 



ture ; but it should be cursed by an overgrowth of 

 thorns and thistles, by reason of man's weakness 

 and inefficiency as a cultivator, doomed as he had 

 become to sickness, sorrow, pain, and finally 

 death. 



The history of all that is past confirms this in- 

 terpretation of the sacred scriptures. Where a 

 vigorous hand has been applied to the work, these 

 thorns and thistles have been subdued. Where 

 weakness or idleness prevails, there the curse is 

 seen, and thorns and thistles cover the face of the 

 ground. 



Truly good men love industry, while a man who 

 covets idleness as a state of bliss is neither fit for 

 heaven nor earth. 



The apostle to the Gentiles said, that the ground 

 which brought forth briars and thorns was nigh 

 to cursing and burning. 



With all these things before us, it is evident 

 that the blessing of Providence is secure to the 

 cultivator of the soil, while a natural curse comes 

 upon the ground wherever the idler haunts it with 

 his abominable presence, or wherever pining weak- 

 ness falls beneath the task of faithful cultivation. 



The fond theory that idleness is bliss, and that 

 labor is a curse, is well suited as a gospel well 

 pleasing to the hearts of loafers, and those who by 

 the knotted lash wring out the toil that comes not 

 for its hire. But who that knows the world, and 

 does not know that industry and virtue travel to- 

 gether through all the earth? Where idlers are, 

 there vice is creeping in. The hand that never 

 toiled is coupled with the heart that never longed 

 for elevation and improvement. 



Labor dishonorable — a curse ! So reasoned the 

 robber and the thief. But he who lives for useful 

 ends must take his place among the workers. 

 Away to the forest or the field. A healthy and a 

 happy life to you, man of the plow, and man of the 

 spade. Let the lover of idleness sit dreaming of 

 happiness as a gift that drops down from the stars. 

 He will sit and dream, until he sees his brother 

 dreamers safely lodged in appropriate boarding 

 houses, jails and prisons. But the working man, 

 by honost toil, shall bless himself and all his kind, 

 and beat out, dig out, or hew out happiness for his 

 mortal and earth-bound state ; and praise his God 

 in honest gratitude for the appointment of labor 

 and toil to all the sons of Adam. 



The Southern Planter. Richmond, Va.: Frank 

 G. Ruffes, Editor.— This old friend comes to us 

 from the fertile banks of the James River. We 

 have passed many pleasant hours upon its sunny 

 slopes, obs3rving the course of husbandry practised 

 there by our brethern. As long ago as 1843 or 4, 

 the Planter made copious extracts from our articles 

 upon Virginia Farming, published by the late Gov. 

 Hill, in the Monthly Visitor, and for our freedom 

 of expression upon some of their modes of cultiva- 



